Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ed Brown. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Ed, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?

Me and one of my Partners, Anthony Robinson had climbed to the top of Municipal Government servings as Assistant City Manager and City Manager respectively. So we were on to our next phase in our careers when we were driving through the Opa Locka Airport and our conversation progressed to what we’re going to do next. Tony who had a longtime history in Aviation suggested we open up a Fixed Base Operation (FBO) at the Airport. After inquiring about our intentions to the Airport Manager he suggested we talk to Eric and Linette Turner because they were being displaced and had the option of relocating their business to a 10,000 sf. former fire station. After discussing the idea with the Turners we decided to open up our FBO which we named Opa Locka Flightline. This enterprise would become the first Black Owned FBO in United States History. God had chosen 4 ordinary people to something extraordinary but little did we know that we would be met with many trials and tribulations of being the first in America to accomplish this monumental achievement. We never imagined that a conspiracy would be launched by a two-headed monster, Miami Dade Aviation Department (MDAD) AA Acquisitions (AA) a wealthy group of businessmen to destroy our business. Flightline was under attack from MDAD and AA a billion dollar Corporations who were consumed by greed, bigotry, racism and corruption to fuel their agenda to eliminate our existence and take the land that was contractually given to us by the FAA and Miami Dade County Board of County Commissioners.(BCC) . We had earned the right for this opportunity to prove we belonged in this aviation industry that was entrenched in racism. Our dreams of leading the charge to introduce our race to an industry that had a plethora of opportunities was short-lived due to the conspiracy to remove us from the airport. The powers to be were predestined to keep this industry dominated and exclusive to whites. In this struggling economy we were denied the right to develop our full service FBO on our 15 acre site suffering the loss of 23.9 million from potential investors. AA had been granted a master lease for 240 acres but desired our 15 acre site which was considered one of the best locations.They had a big fish on the line by recruiting Bombardier Jets a billion dollar French Company to relocate its operation on our site.
To battle our oppressors we hired famed attorney, Willie Gary “The Giant Killer’ to represent us. More problems persisted in the court system when after 17 different hearings we were denied the right to go to trial. One judge decided he was not going to let Flightline put a stain on these rich white gangsters shirts, AA. MDAD and our Black Elected Officials sat idly while America’s only Black Owned FBO died a slow death at Opa Locka Airport. Our 5 year temporary lease was by contract to transition into a 15 acre 30 year lease but AA conspired with MDAD to prevent that from happening. Once our 5 year lease expired we were kicked off the airport. All our efforts in court were victimized by the same corrupt behavior.

Ed, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’m proud of the fact that I wrote a book entitled Take Flight that walks you through this experience from conception to completion of our experience at the airport. Even though all of the partners suffered financial hardships we remain resilient to getting justice 15 years later.

Can you talk to us about how you funded your business?

My Partners and I pooled our resources to the tune of $700,000 dollars to start our enterprise. Our first level of business was to renovate our County Owned 10,000 sf building that was asbestos laden. We had to hire an architect to assemble plans for the demolition and renovation of this dilapidated facility that had been abandoned for several years.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

The backstory to our dilemma was how money, history, power and corruption from the government and rich whites corporate gangsters could operate so freely without fear of retribution. AA bailed the county out of a fictitious and suspicious lawsuit and upon their gesture MDAD rewarded them with free rein to rule the airport. Even after a judge denied their motion to dismiss the case another judge subsequently gave them favor and approved their motion to dismiss our case. We were ordered by the judge to amend our plea. He stated once we amended our plea it nullified the previous motion denying AA’s motion to dismiss the case.

Contact Info:

• Facebook: Opalockaflightline.com
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